Tag Archives: Eucalypts

Eucalypts of the Mount Alexander Region by Bernard Slattery, Ern Perkins and Bronwyn Silver is a great new resource. This 90 page guide aims to help the beginner train the eye to see the differences between eucalypts. It shows the commonest species of the Mount Alexander Region but describes species common to the whole Box-Ironbark region so is useful in a wider area. Sections on major species include drawings of buds, fruit, juvenile leaves and adult leaves by Leon Costermans.

The book is a community project of the Friends of the Box-Ironbark Forests. Publication has been made possible by a generous grant from the Worrowing Fund through the Norman Wettenhall Foundation. The Castlemaine Field Naturalists’ Club and Connecting Country have also provided financial support. link

We had a great excursion today looking at eucalypts to the south of
Ballarat. At the first stop some curly leaves were investigated and contained psyllids. These insects live under a covering called a lerp. At home I plugged in the trusty $50 digital microscope (from Aldi) and looked at the tiny insect.

Eight field nats left Gillies Street and the numbers swelled to 13 in the low cloud and drizzle at the base of Mt Warrenheip. We set off through the wet grass to examine the Blue Gums growing on the west-facing slope. We searched for buds and gum nuts on the ground and what we picked up was confounding. Some nuts were sessile on stem (indicating Eucalyptus globulus ssp bicostata Eurabbie), buds found were attached with flattened peducles (E globulus ssp psuedoglobulus Victorian Eurabbie). Further investigation is necessary to find out if the trees have been planted.

Next stop on White Swan Rd. on the south end of Creswick Forest we found a very old, large Manna Gum E viminalis. The trunk was 1.7metres at breast height, the upper part was extensively branched. We speculated as to why it was not felled in the mining days, was it too small then?Continue reading →